Ryder Cup 2010: Europe captain Colin Montgomerie was simply magical

It is probably too early to say if Colin Montgomerie is as great a Ryder Cup
captain as Tony Jacklin or Sam Torrance. We will have to wait until the mud
has dried at Celtic Manor to make that final judgement. But each hour that
passes seems to enhance his reputation.

Happy days: Colin Montgomerie was able to fully relax on Tuesday after the adrenaline rush of Europe's Ryder Cup successPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

By Mark Reason

12:04AM BST 06 Oct 2010

What is it about those blokes north of the border, Gordon Brown excluded, that can make such great leaders? Without even having to rummage about in the brainbox, names like Sir Alex Ferguson, Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Jock Stein, Torrance and Ian McGeechan rush straight out.

Now there is Montgomerie. He made us smile when he said there is no ‘I’ in team. But there can be a big ‘ME’ in team, as we found out when Nick Faldo was in charge two years ago. Montgomerie, with a large ‘EGO’ in his name, could also have been humiliated by his own vanity.

Instead Monty’s Ryder Cup captaincy was defined by his greatest quality. There is an innate generosity in part of Monty’s heart that almost forces him to forgive.

Forgiveness enabled Montgomerie to make Darren Clarke one of his assistants, even though they have never been friends. Clarke has long been contemptuous about Montgomerie’s alleged breaches of golf’s rules.

And yet when Celtic Manor was over Clarke said: “All credit to Monty for everything he’s done this week. He’s created a massive team atmosphere and he’s got the best out of his players.

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"The way he’s gone through everything has been meticulous, but this is what you have to do for the future. He’s been fantastic.”

Montgomerie brought in Paul McGinley and Thomas Bjorn to help him.

When Sergio García asked for a place on the staff, Montgomerie handed him the keys to the buggy. Then Jose Maria Olazabal, a man who had slighted Monty at the start of his captaincy, arrived – and Montgomerie asked him to join the staff.

Montgomerie’s team were starting to have more ‘Is’ than Mississippi. If he could handle that many big personalities, then managing the actual players was going to be child’s play.

He said yesterday of his five assistant captains: “I wouldn’t have been standing there making a winning speech if it wasn’t for them. They were quite superb.

"They were all friends of mine for the past 15 or 20 years. It was marvellous to have that friendship on the course.”

Some of these men have never been friends. But the Ryder Cup is different. Europe’s ability for forgiveness is what has made them a greater team over the years than America.

Montgomerie involved everyone he could think of. He brought in the Welshman Rhys Davies to drive his buggy and calls him “fantastic.” Ian Botham and Gareth Edwards spoke in the team room. McGinley made sure that Seve Ballesteros roused the players on the end of the phone.

Montgomerie stressed the need for passion when Europe fell behind. He pointed out that Celtic Manor could never become Brookline in the singles because every man had earned at least half a point. He says: “I tried to dismiss Brookline in my team talk.”

Then he turned it over to Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Olazabal. The players were always at the heart of it. Lee Westwood pinned the note above the door that warned on Sunday: “They’re going to come out fast, make sure we come out faster” although he doubted anyone could read his writing.

Walking off one green Harrington wanted Montgomerie to warn the Molinaris of an unexpected break in a putt. Montgomerie mischievously says that McGinley had probably worked out by then that you had to press the button on the walkie talkie when you were speaking.

Montgomerie says: “Every shot was coming through my ear, it was exhausting.” He was with every player and every player was with him. Harrington says: “We didn’t want to let him down, we wanted to deliver for Monty.”

When there was talk of a change of format Montgomerie was adamant. He would not contemplate playing for fewer points, but he would accept six-game sessions. He used it to rally his team, telling them: “All of you are going to play, I can give you no greater compliment.”

But first he consulted the Europeans about the change. Did Pavin include his own players in the same way? Montgomerie says: “I don’t believe that Corey did. I think he took the decision himself.

“But we had to play for 28 points. Provided we did that I was OK. When I had all my players on the pitch we got 5½ points out of six. That was crucial. That’s why we won it.”

Tactically Monty got most decisions correct. He stayed loyal to his players in that crucial third session and they repaid him. Most importantly he put Graeme McDowell at No 12 in the singles, against the lessons of recent history, just in case.

Montgomerie says: “That order for the singles has been criticised and rightly so in the past, but you couldn’t say that we got it wrong. It was the right thing to do. It was the ‘just in case’ scenario to have Harrington and McDowell there.”

There were so many details like insisting that the scoreboards remain blue rather than show the action if Europe were ahead. The greens were slowed to dull America’s putters and the course set up to suit Europe’s drivers.

Early in the campaign Montgomerie had asked for four captain’s picks and if the committee had listened to him Montgomerie would have had a stronger team. Maybe the next captain will be more fortunate.

That man looks like being Olazabal. If he needs a friend, then he only needs to call Montgomerie. The Scot has ruled himself out from captaining the team again, but somehow I think he may well be in Chicago.

The Ryder Cup just means too much. Montgomerie says: “It would be nice to be involved in some individual capacity. I won’t be captain but if anyone wants any advice about the course or whatever, then I’ll give it.”

At the start of his term, he laid out his beliefs: “Sam’s team room was a delight. If you enjoy what you do and have fun, you do relax more when you arrive at the course. The people that are relaxed do best. If you enjoy what you do you’re usually good at it. Doesn’t matter what it is. Like painting this fence.”

We then looked down at the palings, saw the rushed half-streaks of paint and began to giggle. Montgomeries captaincy was always fun.